Holy Cross at #5 Villanova 4 PM
EWU at #5 Montana 6 PM
Saturday Games 12/4:
Kennesaw State at #7 Eastern Tennessee State 11 AM
Southeastern Louisiana at #3 James Madison 11 AM
Incarnate Word at #1 Sam Houston State 12 PM
Southern Illinois at #2 NDSU 12:30 PM
Tennessee-Martin at #6 Montana State 1 PM
SDSU at #4 Sac State 6 PM
Friday night must watch is EWU @ Montana --- EWU won the first matchup earlier in the year, and an Eagle player was pretty vocal in his criticism about Montana being seeded for the playoffs.
Montana is favored by 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 depending on where you look.
ESPN listing SDSt as 8 1/2 favorites over Sac State per Caesars Sportsbook. Was hoping that would be under a TD so I would jump on SDSt.
Montana St is 13 1/2 point favorite over UT Martin
NDST -12 over Southern Illinois
JMU -16 over SE Louisiana
Sam Houston -14 over Incarnate Word
Nova -11 1/2 over Holy Cross
East Tenn -1 over Kennesaw St
NDSU, Montana and Sac State all got raw deals with their pairings this week. Maybe I'm wrong, but Southern Illinois, EWU and SDSU were all fringe seeds for the playoffs...all playing seeded teams...with the only non-conference matchup being South Dakota State @ Sac.
maybe I’m way off, but I don’t see the SDSU romp that many others seem to predict. Sac has many weapons on offense, and I thought their defense was really good.
I don't see a romp either but it could happen if Sac can't slow down the Jacks' running game. Sac is quicker defensively than us and are fundamentally sound in their tackling so that should help. Sac's offense is nicely balanced and they can be dangerous with the run and the pass. They won't throw 6 picks either. This game may come down to who gets the breaks and takes advantage of mistakes.
SIU might not have been after losing to Youngstown at home but they're still a good team. Seems like they probably should have swapped the SIU-SD pod with the Davidson-Kennesaw St pod. Then you'd have SIU-East Tennessee St and Kennesaw St-North Dakota State.
But that's what happens when you prioritize travel. SIU would have to fly either way. Davidson to East Tennessee St is less than a 3 hr drive while Kennesaw to ETSt is 4 1/2 hours.
I think Sac and EWU are the 2 best Big Sky playoff teams. EWU has seemed to pick up their defense and both Sac and EWU have superior offenses to the Montana schools. I think Eastern beats Montana and the SDSU - Sac game should be very interesting.
I don't know, after seeing EWU get driven on consistently @ Portland State, I think Eastern's D leaves a bit to be desired. However, the grind is over, it's do or die, so look for an opportunistic defense...looking for turnovers plain and simple. Montana runs a heavy ball control offense, nothing flashy, so if the Eagles can force mistakes it'll really help out EB and Co. Montana is no slouch on defense either, it was a tough matchup going into the 4th quarter earlier this year, and the starting Montana QB got hurt in the second half I believe.
EWU vs Montana, tonight 6pm pst. I don’t see the griz winning this one. EW beat them in the regular season in Cheney. I bet Missoula is going to be loud tonight!
I know what you mean. I’m approaching it from the standpoint of who would have the best chance to beat J street. They already beat MT, but their stud QB (MT) was out i think. As much as i hate to say it, I’m rooting for EW . (Did i really say that, lol.).
Their stud QB got hurt late in the game, late 3rd Qtr. or 4th Qtr. - Montana couldn't mount a comeback, but they did finish the game down in the red zone with a chance to either tie or win, don't remember.
14-0 Villanova at half. I haven't watched either team this year, but from what I’ve seen i dont think Villanova or Holy Cross can beat SDSU or J street.